"Disregard the Words"
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Highlights
- words. How can you describe something that is genuinely novel? What happens when something is so fundamentally different that it fails our shared vocabulary?
- Stop using these popular labels for the things that you are describing. The truth of what is happening – what actually exists in the real world underneath – is much more nuanced and complex than these pithy statements. The nouns and phrases you are relying on are imperfect projections on reality. Don’t ever forget to disregard the words if you want to truly understand the world around you.
- Said differently, our shared vocabulary – from “word processor” and “social network,” to “Democrat” and “Republican” – may feel incisive but it actually obscures the reality hidden underneath. My point in sharing all of this is that sometimes I feel like we get too caught up in the words, and forget to disregard them. Especially (in the context of this essay) as builders of new technology products.
- Sometimes I think of it in this way: if the words already exist to describe something new then maybe it is not truly that novel after all.
- At worst this worldview can lead to the esoteric, or the novel for novelty’s sake. But at its best it can feel liberating – permission to “disregard the words” and just build what feels exciting. Trusting that the words will follow.